3 factions battle for AIADMK throne

"Current Chief Minister Palanisamy, who was appointed at the mercy of Sasikala, is not acting as the AIADMK Chief Minister rather he is acting as the Chief Minister of Sasikala and her family", he said. Realisation has dawned on the ministers, including Chief Minister K Paliniswami, and MLAs, that their political survival depends on dumping Sasikala and her extended Mannargudi family from the party.

"He is the Chancellor of the Fisheries University and by the virtue of being a fisheries minister I am the Pro-Chancellor".

The AIADMK was split on February 7, 2016, when Panneerselvam lashed out against AIADMK supremo VK Sasikala, accusing her of usurping power against the will of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

The Palanisamy government propped up by Dinakaran so far, has a tenuous majority with 122 MLAs in a Assembly of 234 members.

He also said as everybody made a decision to keep him out of the party affairs, he has chose to stay out.

Meanwhile, reports emanating from the OPS camp said that they welcomed the decision to sack TTV and Sasikala from the AIADMK party.

"In a bid to keep the AIADMK cadres together and to keep the party cadres intact, it has been chose to stay away from TTV and Sasikala to carry forward the talks of merger with the rival faction led by OPS".

Defence counsel Ashwini Kumar and M. Theepa also told court that police are not allowing them to meet him. While addressing the media amid the rumours of a possible merger with the Sasikala faction, O Panneerselvam said that Jayalalithaa's legacy is the foremost for us and asked both the factions to unite. Shockwaves ran through a section of the AIADMK and its supporters when Dinakaran shifted to the late Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence with his aunt, after being shunned by her for years. "Nobody respects Thambidurai", he said adding that TTV Dinakaran was evicted because he has many cases against him that is why Sasikala family removed him. The main reason for the friction was the dual authority with the party general secretary having a say in governance, a legacy from Jayalalithaa's era.

9 am IST: AIADMK Amma sources are being quoted by local news outlets as saying that the possibility of a change of chief minister has been ruled out.

Jayakumar's clarification came after he met with Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao at the Raj Bhavan.

Police got on Chadrashekhars trail after they received a tip-off from an informer about certain Election Commission officials being approached.